6th Transfer and everything is finally staying the same!

That's right... for once in my mission life, I get to stay with a companion for more than 6 weeks. This is big news! And I am so happy that it is in Pittsboro with Sister Hunt because she is amazing and I love working with her in this amazing area.
 

This week has been a little crazy because of the holidays, but it's been good. Sister Hunt and I have been very well taken care of by the members of the branch and we have so much food and sweets we don't need to go shopping for at least 2 weeks.
 

This week we met with Michelle and were able to talk about tithing and fast offerings. She is so willing and ready to learn and is still working towards getting baptized, but it will probably be moved back a week or two, but will still be in January.
 

The Lassiters canceled on us, but we are hoping to be able to see them sometime this week. Same goes for Christina. Things are all a little crazy because everyone is still on Christmas break.

We are meeting with Sarah tonight! We called her on Saturday to see if she is still good to meet tonight and she said yes and sounded excited about it. I am very excited to teach her about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ's and tell her that the same church He had is on the Earth again and that we have Apostles and a Prophet to help us.
 

I should be able to go back to Fuquay sometime in the next couple of weeks for Sharron's baptism, a woman who Sister Draper and I taught 3 times before I came to Pittsboro.

On Christmas Eve we went over to the Zrubek's home and helped to make some holiday goodies. They have 3 children and were watching a friends 2 kids as well so the house was full of kids playing with toys and helping us make treats. We made about 3 different kinds of cookies and cake balls. It was so much fun!!! That night we had dinner at the Spencer's home with some other members of the Branch and ate good food and sang lots of Christmas songs and read from Luke Chapter 2 about the Lord's birth. I was asked to play the piano while we all sang and it was some rough sight reading at times, but it worked out all right.

Never Ending Jenga!

 

On Christmas day we went over to the Ballash's for dinner and to skype family. They are a super cute family with two adorable little boys! They are moving tomorrow to Thailand for a year or so and they will be missed. While there we played a very intense game of Jenga, than went on forever!  I don't think I've ever played a round that lasted that long! We ate delicious food, made fudge, and got to skype with family while they were skyping their family. It was SO good to see all you who were at Dad's house and to be able to talk for a little while. An hour definitely flies by too quickly! The Weeds, Sears, and Joel and Heather were all definitely missed though.

Christmas with the Ballash Family

 

I love you all so much and I loved hearing how you celebrated Christmas and that you all had a good time, even though some were sick. Hope you get some snow so the kids can go sledding! Here it is still light jacket weather with pouring rain every other day. :)
 

Love you all, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
 

Sister Shurtz

Merry Christmas, Y'all!

First things first, Merry Christmas in just 2 days! It doesn't feel like Christmas because it is rainy and in the 60's or 70's today. But it really is crazy to me how much time has passed! As of yesterday I have been a missionary for 7 months. 7 MONTHS! It still feels like I just got here. But at the same time it feels like forever since I have seen your faces or heard your voices. I'll get to talk to some of you in just a couple of days though! I wish it could be all of you, but just wait a year and then we can talk in person! :)


On Tuesday we had lessons with Sarah and with Michelle. They both went very well! We taught Sarah about the Plan of Salvation and she is excited for our lesson on the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Unfortunately we can't meet with her until the 30th because of the holidays and everything, but we gave her a pamphlet and a Book of Mormon, with Renae's testimony in the front of it, and she said she would read. Before we left she gave us some fruitcake from a place in Bear Creek (AKA: the middle of nowhere) that is really famous for it's fruitcake. It was pretty good, basically a sweet bread with a lot of nuts and next to no fruit. Still not a huge fan though, I'd much rather eat some chocolate! haha

Michelle is doing really well. She has stopped drinking coffee and tea and will continuing to work on the Word of Wisdom this week. She is still planning on getting baptized on the 11th of January. She is so sweet and is definitely strengthening her testimony in Jesus Christ and the restored gospel.

Wednesday we had a Christmas Zone Conference in Raleigh and it was with 3 zones. (Raleigh, Durham, and Apex) It was fun to see my old companions, especially because Sister Brown is leaving in a week to go back to Kiribati!
Thursday Sister Hunt and I got sick again! We ended up doing a lot of studies and some facebook time that day but still managed to have some lessons and things.
 
Friday we still weren't feeling very well, but we pushed through it. We had another lesson with Michelle and dinner with the Zrubek family. I love the members on this branch!

Saturday we spent some time with Dawn, a less active member of our branch. We helped her do some cleaning and sorting. But most of all, I think the biggest help we gave her was just talking to her. Listening to stories and getting to know her better.
 
Yesterday at church we sang a special musical number in Sacrament Meeting and also in Relief Society. Relief Society was focused on the women from the story of Jesus' birth. I'm not sure where the script came from, but I bet you could find something similar online. It had a part about Elizabeth, Joseph's mother, Mary's mother, a Shepherd's wife, the Innkeeper's Wife, and Mary. As the different women read the parts it really brought the story to life and helped you to understand the story in a more personal way.

This week will be filled with food and the Christmas spirit. The Branch here is taking good care of us!
 
I love you all so much and pray you will have a great and safe Christmas.

~Sister Shurtz

Christmas is just around the corner!

Last Monday we spent the day up in Chapel Hill shopping for Christmas presents. It was fun to get out of little Pittsboro for a bit and just have some fun with Sister Hunt. :) On our way home from shopping we went to dinner at the Parrish's (the same family we spent Thanksgiving with) and they told us they are going to be spending Christmas in Wenatchee!!! It is a small world... and a little unfair haha.

 

Tuesday was a meeting for Trainers and new missionaries in their first transfer. We spent all day over in Knightdale, an hour's drive away, with President and Sister Bernhisel and other trainers. We did lots of role plays and talked about how to be better missionaries. I love having all these meetings! I always learn something new and find a way to improve... remembering to apply it is the hard part.

 

Wednesday and Thursday we had district meeting and weekly planning. We also had dinners with more members. :)

 

Friday both Sister Hunt and I were sick all day. Luckily we were feeling better by the next day so on Saturday we were able to go, in the pouring cold rain, and visit with Sarah, the Lassiters, and Sister Butler. Sarah is a new investigator and we will be meeting with her tomorrow and teaching her about the Plan of Salvation. The Lassiters will also be taught this week about the Plan of Salvation and I have such high hopes for them! We called Sister Butler, an older woman who was baptized this summer, to see if we could come over for a visit. She said she would love our help to decorate her Christmas tree! We were able to help her find and unpack all her decorations and put them on the tree. It was fun listening to the different stories and things behind the different ornaments and things.

Sunday was the Christmas program at church and we were asked to sing in the choir. Michelle came to church again and she loved it. She is doing well with not drinking coffee and tea and we will be talking to her again tomorrow about other aspects of the Word of Wisdom. She is a shining star that is always smiling and laughing we love her so much!

As a missionary you always hit bumps in the road, but I am so happy and blessed to have Sister Hunt as my companion and we can always work through things and help each other so much!

Still haven't seen Christina, but we're not giving up! haha

 

I hope you all have an amazing week and enjoy the time together with family and friends celebrating and not going to school. Thank you so much for all of the love and support! We truly have an amazing family!

Love,
Sister Shurtz

"What Can I Give Him?"



Sister Hunt and I outside the temple after Sister's Conference

So I am emailing you now because yesterday the library's computers weren't running and we had a meeting all day today for trainers and new missionaries, so this is the first chance that we've had.
 

This week was great :) We have met with Michelle 3 times since last I wrote to you and she also came to church this week! We have taught her about the Word of Wisdom and she is "going to try her best." She really is one of the sweetest people I have ever met and we just love her so much! Today we set a baptismal date for the 12th of January and she is going to buy some hot chocolate tomorrow to replace her coffee with in the mornings. I want her to have the happiness that comes from living these commandments and also from reading the scriptures and doing everything that she is trying her best to do. I want that for her SO BAD!
 

We finally caught up with Christina for a few minutes last week and will be meeting with her this week. :)

Last Thursday we had a Sister's Conference! It was so much fun to be there with ALL the sisters in the mission. It was especially fun to see Sister Brown one more time before she goes back to Kiribati in a month. I am going to miss her so much! It is weird to have my "mom" going home already and now I'm a "mom" to my own companion.

At the Temple after Sister's Conference

Right after the Sister's Conference we had lunch/dinner with the Watt's. They are an adorable older couple in their 80's who have been married for 3 years after both losing a spouse. We heard lots of fun stories and they spoiled us just like we were their grandkids. :)
 

Friday night was the Branch's Christmas Open House. We had lots of treats and music and a small nativity display with about 30 nativities. We sang Christmas Carols and everyone had a great time.

Sister Hunt and I at the Branch Open House and the display of nativities :)

On Saturday we spent lots of time out in the cold. We walked around for about 2 hours but not many people were out... or at home... where is everyone when that happens?!?! haha
 

I loved the Christmas Devotional on Sunday night! President Monson quoted lyrics from a song that I sang in Choir last year at BYU. I love these words! "What can I give him, poor as I am. If I were a shepherd I would bring a lamb. If I were a Wise Man I would do my part. What can I give him, give him my heart." I think that is all anyone wants from us even and especially during the holiday season. Do people really want our money and our hastily bought presents? Or would they rather a small simple act or gift that took some time, thought, and a little piece of our heart? Don't get me wrong, everyone (and that includes me) loves presents and it is fun and exciting! But the presents that matter most are the little pictures the kids draw, or the 20th tie rack your children built for you in your shop out of a scrap piece of wood and some nails (sound familiar Dad? haha). It's the heartfelt cards or notes or all the time we know they must have spent looking for or making this special thing they knew we would love. I guess what I'm getting at is what I wrote about last week too... don't let the spirit of the season slip past you. Do a good deed. Give some change to the bell ringers. Feed the missionaries. ;) Send a special note with a Christmas card to someone who is having a hard time. SMILE at people! Do whatever you want or can in order to help others feel the love of the Savior we all have felt in our lives.
 

Ok, I'm stepping off my missionary soap box now. I hope you have a great week and that you are able to enjoy the season and the cold weather everyone's been having this week. I love you all so much and are so grateful for our family! <3
 

All my love,
Sister Shurtz

We needed a little Christmas decoration... so we made some paper snowflakes and hung them in our apartment from the ceiling!

Thanksgiving as a Missionary in North Carolina

Happy December Family!

Can you believe it is already December? That just blows my mind!

On Tuesday we had a couple of lessons, one with Sister Lassiter and one with Michelle. Michelle is still thinking about baptism and hopefully we will be able to set a date with her tomorrow. She is an amazing woman who truly trusts in God with all her heart. I love her so much!

That night we spent some time with the Snows, who don't come to church because of matters beyond their control. She taught us to make pie crust and we had an enjoyable evening and were able to get to know them better.

The rest of the week it was very hard for us to talk with people because of the holidays. Everyone was out of town or had family visiting. We managed to see a few more less-actives in the ward though.

Yesterday in Relief Society we talked about keeping Christ in the center of our Christmas celebrations. There was one idea that I really liked and thought I would pass along to y'all. I remember making a paper chain every year counting down the days to Christmas. I don't know if those of you who have small children do this, but the idea is to put a scripture about Christ on each of the chains and read that scripture every night or morning when you rip off the paper. Here is a list of 24 scriptures: (haven't looked at all of them, these are the ones we got on a handout)

Dec. 1: Isaiah 7:14

Dec. 2: 2 Nephi 26:3

Dec. 3: Matt. 15:30

Dec. 4: 2 Nephi 2:9

Dec. 5: 3 Nephi 11:1-11

Dec. 6: Mark 16:5

Dec. 7: Moroni 7:28

Dec. 8: Luke 23:33-34

Dec. 9: 1 Nephi 19:9

Dec. 10: 2 Nephi 9:21

Dec. 11: Matt. 14:17-21

Dec. 12: 3 Nephi 11:15

Dec. 13: John 13:34

Dec. 14: Matt 20:30-34

Dec. 15: 2 Nephi 2:26

Dec. 16: Matt 4:23

Dec. 17: Luke 2:46-47

Dec. 18: Matt 3:16

Dec. 19: 2 Nephi 2:6

Dec. 20: Luke 2:8-11

Dec. 21: Matt 1:21-23

Dec. 22: Helaman 14:2-4

Dec. 23: Helaman 14:5-8

Dec. 24: Luke 2:12-16

I hope and pray that we can all find ways to keep our Savior, Jesus Christ in the center of our celebrations this season. I know that He came to this earth and lived and died for us. I know that He is our eldest brother and He loves us so much and is always there for us if we just turn to Him.

I love you all and hope you have a great week.

Sister Shurtz

Happy Fall Ya'll

The cold has finally hit North Carolina. It has been bright and sunny, but bitterly cold and with a wind that really gets to you when you're in a skirt.

On Tuesday Sister Richardson and I drove to Raleigh for a meeting or two before we met our new companions. Sister Richardson is in a town very similar to Pittsboro, but will be speaking Spanish. My new companion is Sister Hunt. She is from Twin Falls, Idaho, has long, brown, curly hair, is super cute, and I LOVE HER! She and I are similar in a lot of ways.

Wednesday we had district meeting and tried to meet with Christina but with no luck. We went to mutual that night, an appropriate "dark time activity", and helped the Young Women to make a "Thankful Tree." We all wrote different things we are thankful for on leaves that we cut out of different colors of paper and stuck them on the paper tree already on the wall. It was fun and a good chance to get to know the youth a little better. I would like to start helping them find ways they can share the gospel with their friends.

Thursday we met with Michelle and taught her about baptism. She has decided to think about it and we will follow up with her tomorrow at our next lesson. She also came to church this Sunday and participated in class as well as offered to say the closing prayer. She is so sweet and Sister Hunt and I both love her a lot!

On Friday we went to have lunch at a member's home and to go visit a few members who live out by her in Moncure. It was another great experience to get to know the members and also to hopefully build some trust. After that we stopped by Brother Pants' home... remember him? The man who called and asked me on a date after I met him at the gas station? Yes, he lives in my area now and we stopped by to see him. The address he gave us apparently was his niece's home and so we were able to go inside and teach the Restoration in about 5 minutes. It was by total chance that he was there, seeing as he doesn't live there, and they aren't very interested, but thanked us for our time and we left them with some resources to contact us if they are interested in the future. As we left I asked "Brother Pants" if he remembered me and he said, "Yes Ma'am I do!" It is amazing how the timing of the Lord works. We were not planned to be anywhere near Moncure that day, but the Lord guided us to be able to meet with these members, who are usually very busy, and also to find "Brother Pants" just before he was going to leave his niece's home.

After our visits in Moncure we came back up to Pittsboro and ended up doing some tracting. Sister Hunt is amazing! She has no fear and is very comfortable with talking to people. We had many really good contacts with people that day and planted some seeds. One woman who was outside blowing her leaves off her driveway was very kind and talked with us for about 10 minutes. It is amazing how the Lord really does guide us to find people who need a little encouragement or who are looking for the unique message we have.

Saturday was the day that Brother Robinson, in Fuquay, got baptized! Little happy note :)

Yesterday we took some cookies and some invitations to the Branch's Christmas Open House to people and had a lot of really good visits. Activities are such an amazing way to invite people to the church and get them to meet people.

Today Sister Hunt and I are going on an adventure to Walmart, a 20 minute drive up the road. I'm sure there will be pictures next week... we like taking pictures. haha

Love you all so much! Have an amazing Thanksgiving! I will be well taken care of by the Branch. We are going to the Parrish's home for lunch/dinner and they are going to be making me some sweet potatoes. :) This is one happy missionary. Brother Parrish is actually from Quincy and his brother lives in Wenatchee. He also was really good friends with the Jardines and would go over to their home frequently... which is the house right next to ours... It's a small world in the church!

I am so grateful for each of you and feel so blessed to be in this amazing family!
All my love,

Sister Shurtz

Fifth Transfer with my Sixth Companion

Transfers are tomorrow and I am going to be staying in Pittsboro and training a new sister. That's right, this is companion number 6. Can you believe I've been out for 6 months? Crazy that time really does fly by.

This week has been great. On Wednesday we had a meeting with Elder Baxter of the Seventy. He and his wife are amazing and they really helped us to find ways to be better. He is very bold! haha Both of them have amazing conversion stories of when they were younger and their mothers let the missionaries into their home because they felt sorry for them and how cold it was or how wet they were from the rain. He said to never stay inside because the weather is a little bad, always go out and work and do your best!

After the meeting ended we were able to stop by a few people's houses and have great lessons with them! One of those was Christina and her daughter. We were able to talk about the importance of coming to church and that did the trick! They came to church this week and they loved it!

After church we went to see a woman we have been trying to meet with for the last 6 weeks. Her name is Janice and she has been having some health problems lately. We went to visit her and we were able to have a great conversation and lesson about why we are here and how the Atonement of Christ is always there to help us through the hard times. Christ chose to go through everything He did for us. He did not have to come here and suffer in order to know what we would need to make it through our trials. He CHOSE to come and to suffer so He would know the pains and the sicknesses and everything that we go though.

Something that I think I have failed to mention is that there are Spanish Speaking Elders here in Pittsboro with us. They are super great to work with! Elder Gonzalez and Elder Lowham. One day, we happened to match each other perfectly... so we took a picture :)

 

Sorry this one is a little short, but know that I am doing well and I am loving it here in Pittsboro. I am sad to be losing Sister Richardson because she has taught me so much and is such a great missionary! I love her so much! But she is going to be heading South and training a new Spanish Speaking sister. She is SO EXCITED! haha

Hope you have a great week! Love y'all!!
Sister Shurtz

Becoming as a Little Child

This is the last week of the transfer already! Transfers are on the 19th. Sister Richardson and I still are not sure what is happening, but we suspect that we are going to be split up as the mission is welcoming three Spanish speaking sisters, a new call for the Raleigh Mission for sisters to speak Spanish, and Sister Richardson was told a few months ago to start learning Spanish. We should be getting a call in the next few days to find out exactly what is happening.

This week I found out that Brother Robinson (from Fuquay) is going to get baptized on the 23rd of this month! I am so excited for him and his family!

This week I have learned a lot! As Sisters we are not allowed to be out after dark unless we have an appointment set up. In this area it has been hard to have an appointment. It gets dark around 5:30! Because of that we have a lot more study time and time to make phone calls and things after dinner. I have really dived into "Jesus the Christ" as well as continuing reading the Old Testament and I am loving reading and learning more about Christ and about the different groups of people who were on the Earth during those periods of time. I feel like I am finally starting to understand exactly what the Tribes of Israel are and their importance. I love having time to study, but it is hard because you feel like you can't be as productive during that time.

We stopped by Christina's to see if we could catch her at home and we did! We were able to have a really good lesson with her and hopefully we will be able to set up an appointment with her soon. I love her and her family so much!

We met with Michelle and Irene again this week and at the end of the lesson we were told that Irene has another church she wants to start going to more regularly so she doesn't need any more "bible studies." Everything ended on a good not though and there are no hard feelings whatsoever. We stopped by a few days later just for a few minutes to check on her and see how she was doing.

I really love being in North Carolina during this time of the year because of all the trees changing colors! They are beautiful and everywhere! Also, it is about 50-60 degrees every day, so it makes it a little more tolerable to be in a skirt every day.

Sunday was the Primary Program and it was so fun to see all the children of the branch get up and share their testimonies about how they know they are a child of God. It definitely made me miss all the nieces and nephews back home! It is amazing how simple and powerful a child's testimony can be. I aspire to be more like them! To be able to trust and have such amazing faith. And just like it says in the Book of Mormon:

"And again I say unto you, ye must repent, and become as a little child, and be baptized in my name, or ye can in nowise receive these things. And again I say unto you, ye must repent, ad be baptized in my name, and become as a little child or ye can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God." (3 Nephi 11:37-38)

"For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father." (Mosiah 3:19)

Becoming as a little child is something I'm going to be working on this week.
I hope y'all have a great week! I love you so much!

Love,
Sister Shurtz

Fall in NC!



I love the Autumn Leaves!

This week did not go as planned. haha

 

Last Monday Sister Richardson and I ended up spending all day in Siler City (About 20 minutes from here, but still in our area) because the Elder's tire popped on them, so we got to help them out a bit. That night we helped a recent convert unpack some boxes that have been sitting in her house for a while and it worked out perfectly because the next day we went to see a less-active family who is moving soon and needed boxes. The Lord always provides a way! haha

 

Later on Tuesday we had another lesson with Michelle and Irene. It was such a good lesson / Bible Study! We talked about the Plan of Salvation and they both seemed to accept it really well! Michelle also came to church this week and she loved it!

 

Sadly Christina canceled on us twice this week so we didn't get to see her. It is so hard when people have things come up and they are busy all the time! And it is also hard to see people who have come so close to the spirit and see how HARD Satan works on them. Satan is REAL! He is out there to get us all to turn away from our Savior and it is so easy to let him sneak into our lives! I think that is one of the main reasons I love the scriptures so much is because it gives me that help and focus for each day.

Halloween was a day of planning, and then we had dinner at a member's home. Right before we got there the power went off in the house. This is the second time that has happened to me on my mission. Luckily she was done with the food by the time the power turned off and we just opened all the blinds and it was fine.

On Friday the Lassiters canceled on us because they were out of town. Again, it is so hard to see people who have a great lesson with us and then they suddenly get very busy and Satan works so hard on them! Hopefully we will meet with them this next week as well.

I really love all the people here in North Carolina! It is so different from home and I just really love it! Have a great week! And thank you so much for all your emails and helping me to feel the spirit more today. You are all amazing examples to me! I love you so much!

Love,

Sister Shurtz

Me with a mural on the side of a building

A Pretty Church in Town :)

Yay, Fall leaves!

A Slow Week that Ended with a Bang!

So this week was a little slow and we struggled with getting members with us to our lessons because none of our investigators would set a day and time to see them. Everyone has just been busy lately.

Needless to say I went into Sunday feeling like I hadn't done a lot this week (mostly because our numbers were low this week, no one we invited came to the branch Halloween party, and no one came to sacrament meeting). But as the day went on more miracles started happening!
 

The first was a member who has been having a hard time lately asked us to come over to her house and help her with some things and we got to teach her and her children a great lesson while we ate lunch and did some service.

After that we made some more visits and tried some referrals we had received... with no luck. Then we tried stopping by Christina (who has been sick) and ended up talking about teaching her daughter too, because she wants to be baptized! Then we talked to just Christina about commandments and the Word of Wisdom. This means making some changes but we set a plan and she is going to do great! She is going to aim for the 16th now and I know it's going to happen! I love her so much and I love seeing her have that desire to make changes. She has inspired me to make the small changes that we all need to make in our lives as we talk about praying and her attempts to just not be as angry as normal. I just sit there and think about all the little things I need to be working on!
 

After Christina's we went to a house to say happy birthday to a little girl in a family that we are teaching and the neighbor's little girl was there. She asked us the week before when we were there if we would come to her house. We stopped by but only the father was home but he said we could come back again later. After not really thinking much about it, the little girl asked us again if we would come to her house so we thought we would just stop by before it got dark and we had to go home anyways.
 

They let us in and we had one of the most spiritual lessons I have ever experienced! They are so devoted to the Lord and trying to do what He wants for them and they accepted everything we told them! They are just simply amazing people. They were talking about there being something in our eyes that was just pulling on them. As we explained our purpose and that we have been called by a prophet of God to share this message they both gasped and said, "that's what it is!" We are going to be meeting with them, the Lassiters, again on Friday.

I know there is a reason I am here on a mission and I know that the Lord places people who really have been prepared in the path of the missionaries.

I hope you all have a great week and a Happy Halloween!
 

Love,

Sister Shurtz

4 Languages, 3 Sisters, 2 Unexpected Pets, and 1 Week Together

Sister Frampton, Sister Richardson, and I


This week has been one of the funnest of my mission by far. Sister Frampton, Sister Richardson, and I all get along together very well... and we've been taking a lot of pictures of our adventures. I am sad to say that Sister Frampton is getting transferred tomorrow. There was a sister who went home and so President is splitting us up and sending our sweet Norwegian speaker to Wilmington. :(

 

This week has been full of miracles and great experiences.
 

Tuesday we went and taught Christina again and it was a very powerful lesson in which she said she definitely wants to be baptized and is shooting for November 9th. It is amazing to hear how she has been praying more and seeing the differences!

On Wednesday we were a little at loss for what to do because our appointments fell through. We ended up on a random street knocking some doors and we met some amazing people outside! Unfortunately they do not live in our area, but they are super prepared! It is always fun to find those people who already live the standards we do and see the importance of it!

 

Thursday we knocked some doors and had some interesting conversations but gave Sister Frampton some learning experiences for sure. that night we visited a recent convert and had a great lesson with her.


Friday was Zone conference which is when President told us that he was going to be splitting us up. We were so sad!

Saturday we knocked some more doors and tried some former investigators. We met an AMAZING woman named Brandy. She is one of those people who is ready to hear the message, as long as she doesn't reject the spirit she has already felt. We are still working with her a little bit but she told us she wasn't super interested after only 24 hours. We gave her a book of mormon and she is going to read a verse or two that we send her every day.

Yesterday was very adventurous. We happened upon a mental institution that is hidden back in the middle of the woods while looking for a potential investigator... it was a little creepy to say the least. We all had the creepy crawlies for a while after that one. On our way home we stopped to take some fun pictures at a cow farm while the sun was setting. I love these Sisters so much! We have a lot of fun speaking our different languages in the apartment. Sister Frampton practices her Norwegian while Sister Richardson practices her Spanish and I speak in English and attempt ASL.


We have fun friends in our apartment... our 2 unexpected pets. We have a mouse named Lucy and a GIANT cockroach named Rick. As far as we know they are both living behind our dishwasher... yeah it's pretty fun. Also in the morning when we go running we have to be careful not to spook any deer (because there are about 20 out each morning on the path we run on) so they don't charge us. We have fun in Pittsboro! haha

 

Love you all so much! I'm glad you all had fun on your trip! I'm looking forward to seeing pictures! :)
 

~Sister Shurtz

These are pictures from Fuquay. One is of me with a girl we were teaching off and on named Janell.

Sister Brown and I at transfer meeting because I'm not sure if I'll see her again before she leaves in two transfers.



A couple of fun pictures of Sister Frampton, Sister Richardson, and I

Leaving our apartment one day :)

Sister Frampton and I

 

Pittsboro with Sister Richardson

Hey Y'all! This week has been very interesting. Tuesday morning we set out a little late for transfer meeting, only to have our tire blow out on us as we were about 5 minutes away.... on the freeway. No injuries or anything, but we just were very late for our meeting and we are both training new missionaries having no training ourselves on how to do that. Luckily for me I have Sister Richardson, who is super great! She is from Idaho and loves rock climbing. We have a lot of fun together and we teach well together.

Something interesting about the Pittsboro Branch area is that it has a very large Hispanic population. Sister Richardson is working on learning Spanish because she might be training one of the first Spanish speaking sisters coming out next transfer. Today we are also picking up our new companion who is waiting for her visa to go to Norway. It is going to be a very interesting dynamic.

We are teaching an amazing woman, Kristina. She lost her husband a few months ago and has two children. She is working for a baptismal date next month. Her husband was a less active member and she has some in-laws who are active members who she has learned a lot from.

There are some other investigators here, but I haven't been able to meet with them yet. Hopefully we will be able to see them this week.

We have done a lot of work with less-active members this week. In one day we had lessons with 4! It was a great day! Interestingly we ended up teaching a less-active member and her boyfriend who is from Syria. He is not the most open minded person and feels like he knows a lot about Christianity, and he is always right because of where he is from. It will be interesting to see if we will continue meeting with him and see if he will eventually soften. He has agreed to read the Book of Mormon and hopefully that will help him to understand.

This morning I finished reading the Book of Mormon all the way through! It is a great accomplishment because my first day in North Carolina I was given a new copy and told to read it and mark different things, such as references to Christ and his attributes and other things. I was already part way through when I got here, so I started on page 145 at the beginning of Mosiah. Today I finished all the way through to the beginning of Mosiah again. I love the Book of Mormon!!! I know it is true and it has helped me every day as I have been reading it. I also read Jacob 5 yesterday and I finally feel like I am understanding what it is talking about! I think I just needed to wait until I was personally a part of the Gathering of Israel as a full time missionary to understand. I just love the Book of Mormon to no end. Now I am going to start reading the Old Testament as well as the Book of Mormon. I just love learning! haha

 

 Hope all y'all have a great week in California together! Have fun and stay safe! I love you so much! :)

 

Love,
Sister Shurtz

Missionary Life

Here are some pictures of some of the things a missionary does!

Lovely Sister Draper and I

We took a creative break while tracting to take some pictures on the rail road tracks... :)

 

District Pictures!

Beautiful Fuquay Varina water tower. (By the way... Scotty McCreery is from the next town over and I think of his song "Water Tower Town" every time I see the water towers and I have found that the lyrics are SO true!!!)

Sister Draper and I biking for the week :P

Farewell Fuquay

That's right everyone, I'm getting transferred yet again. Yay for new companions every transfer! I am bummed because we are making so much progress here and I really love being with Sister Draper. But I know that Pittsboro needs me and so do my new companionS. That's right I get to be in a trio! I will be with Sister Richardson, who has been out for quite I while, for a week and then together we will be training a sister who is going to be in North Carolina while she is waiting for her visa to come. Pittsboro is a little place that is very country and has a small branch in it. President asked me if I knew any Spanish because it would really come in handy there he said. Should've paid more attention in Spanish in High School!

 

This week has been really REALLY good though! Tuesday morning we spent some time tracting around the apartments we live in. We found an older couple who were helping their daughter and grandson move in and we offered to help. At first they all said, "oh we're ok, thanks though!" We tried to convince them to let us help and finally Sister Draper says, "We've been praying to have opportunities for service!" At that the older mother said, "Well guys, you can't fight that! They've been praying to help people!" So we got to help and last night we took them some cookies. Only in the South and in Utah would it work to say, "We've been praying for this, let us help you!" haha
 

That night President called to inform us that we are getting split up. Sister Draper is staying in Fuquay and she will be training. I am going to Pittsboro. Needless to say we were both sad and very shocked. But we have come to accept it and know it is for a reason.

Wednesday we had Zone Meeting where I played the piano yet again. (Have I ever told you that I am asked to play at every district and zone meeting we have?) I am also playing at transfer meeting tomorrow... I'm basically at the point where I don't care if I mess up anymore as long as the people just keep singing and let me catch up! haha
 

That afternoon we had a lesson with Dominique that went well and she also came to watch conference yesterday and received a priesthood blessing. She is changing so much and I wish I could stay here to see her progress more.
 

Wednesday night we were able to teach the Young Women at mutual. We watched some great videos from the mormon channel and then we played "missionary question Jeopardy" where Sister Draper and I pretended to be the girl's non-member friends and we asked them different questions about the church. The point was to help the girls find easy and simple ways to answer questions and also to help them realize how much they really do know! Hopefully it helped and they will be more confident in sharing what they believe.
 

Thursday we taught Sharon again. Have I told you about Sharon? She is wonderful and we have been teaching her for about 3 weeks now. She was a referral from her friend who lives in another ward. This week we taught her the Plan of Salvation and it was so powerful! There were tears shed and the spirit was there in full force! I am so excited for Sharon every time she reads and learns more about the gospel!

Friday we went to the TEMPLE!!!! It was so amazing! It was great to see Sister Brown and Sister Beech again as well as spend time learning and just feeling at peace. The new video is amazing and definitely brought up some different perspectives that I had not thought of before.

We also had dinner with an amazing family that moved to the ward a few months ago. After dinner they took us to Sunny Skies Ice Cream which is a home made ice cream place that has at least 50 flavors. Everything you could possibly think of is there!!! I got banana pudding and it was SO good!!!
 

Saturday we watched the first session of conference at our Ward Mission Leader's home with his wife. It was nice to be in a place where we could all really focus and feel the spirit! The second session we watched at the church building with Brother Graham who seemed to like it and was very interested in watching the rest of the sessions! I am really going to miss the Grahams when I leave, but I know they are going to continue to learn and grow... even if it is a little slow. We then had dinner at the Crenshaws, some of my most favorite people in the world.
 

After dinner we went to visit Sister Fuller again to tell her that I was leaving. She was very sad to see me go but she understands how it works and we are going to keep in touch. I love her so much!!! She has such a strong testimony and I can't wait to see it blossom even more!
 

Sunday we watched the morning session at a member's home. From there we went to the Crenshaw's again and we got blessings from Brother McKeon and Crenshaw... again. Basically It takes a lot of extra help from the priesthood in order for me to be a missionary! I am so grateful for it though! Basically lets just say that my next area is going to be a place for me to learn a lot... prayers and encouragement would be appreciated! haha But I know it will all be worth it and I will love it!
 

Yesterday Brother Robinson also said he has been talking about a baptismal date for the 16th of November. I AM SO EXCITED FOR HIM!!! It has been coming for 7 years and I know his family is excited and happy for him to take this step as well. :)
 

Well... now that I've written a novel for y'all to read, have a great time in California this next week! I'm sad I'm not there with y'all, but at the same time, you know I'm not a huge fan of amusement parks. But you'll have to learn to watch your own children ;) please send me some pictures! I love you my dear family!
 

Love,
Sister Shurtz

 P.S. - pictures of Sister Draper and I will Sister Fuller and her husband and also of us at the temple :)

 

 

Here is What I Did Last Summer

In addition to teaching the gospel, missionaries love to give service!  My companion and I helped the Grahams build a deck and a shed this summer.  Here are some pictures of us at work!

 

Love Being a Missionary!

Another week come and gone and it is almost October! It really is crazy how time flies!

As you probably have all seen, we are using facebook every day. It is really a fun thing to do and a great way to reach our investigators and potentials and also our friends and family back home. I am so glad to be able to use this new tool in the Lord's work. And by the way, you are all more than welcome to comment on, like, and / or share any of my posts.

On Wednesday we did exchanges and I got to go back to Green Level for a day with Sister Brown! I got to see Karen too which was so nice!!! It was a little weird to be back in my old area with my old companion, but it was also a lot of fun to be with her and catch up on things going on. We stopped by a less-active family that we had stopped by before with no luck and a little rudeness. But this time the husband answered and let us in and we talked with the family for an hour! It was so fun to get to know them and hopefully Sister Brown will have more luck in the future with them.

Thursday we did some more service for the Grahams and they are very excited for General Conference this weekend. We are going to watch the Saturday Afternoon session with them and we are hoping it will be a great experience.

Dominique, the 20 year old we met last week, has been having a rough week this week. Despite all that was going on we still took her on a church tour and on Saturday she came to a baptism in the morning and the relief society broadcast that evening! She also came to church yesterday! We are going to try and teach her again this week and introduce the plan of salvation.

Friday we met a woman in the ward named Sister Fuller. Her mother was a temple worker for years at the Washington DC temple but she hasn't come to church lately. She has been having a rough year with having various close people die because of cancer. She is amazing! We were able to show up at her house during a time when she really needed it. She agreed to get a priesthood blessing because she has a strong testimony of the priesthood. It was a very sweet experience for everyone involved, including her non-member husband.

I am so very blessed to be a missionary! I love these people so much and I feel so blessed to have met them and to have this time devoted to helping them come closer to our Savior Jesus Christ.

Have a great week and enjoy General Conference!
 

Love,
Sister Shurtz

Miracles Left and Right

So this week has been a week of learning and also of miracles!

First of all... yes the North Carolina Raleigh mission is now on facebook. So no I'm not breaking any rules! And yes I ended up making another account for my mission stuff so it wouldn't mess up my other page. As missionaries we will be posting scriptures and videos that we feel will help the investigators and members in our areas as well as the friends and family we have back home. We have to have our companion check EVERYTHING we post before we post it, even when we are chatting. We are only supposed to chat and talk to people when it is helping them come closer to Christ and help to answer their questions about the church. We can even have lessons on line now! It is an exciting thing and I can't wait to finish setting it all up so I can actually start using it!

We have 4 new investigators for this last week and both Sister Draper and I are super exciting to keep teaching them because we see their potential. One woman is 20 and has an adorable little 5 month old girl. We met her a week ago and we have talked with her every day on the phone! We have also taught her twice (both times covering the restoration) and she has committed to be baptized next month!

Saturday was Sister Draper's 21st Birthday! As limited as we are as missionaries we still managed to celebrate and we are going to keep celebrating today by getting pedicures. I love Sister Draper so much and I am so grateful to be with her here in Fuquay. She is teaching me so much and helping me be better every day. I just love her!!!

Yesterday alone we had many miracles.

One was a text we received telling us that Brother Robinson, who has been meeting with missionaries for years, has finally committed to his wife to be baptized by Thanksgiving!  Last we had talked with him he said by Christmas.... so this is a good thing!

We also have a less active, Brother Williams, who is finally going to work on getting to the temple! I love him so much and I am so happy that he is finally coming back to church and has that desire to go to the temple at the age of 72.

These are just a few of the amazing things that happened yesterday and I am very excited for this next week to see what other miracles are waiting to happen. This next week I will also be going on exchanges and I get to go back to Green Level with Sister Brown! It will be so weird to go back but really great too.

Being a missionary is the best! It is also really really hard, but it is completely worth all of the homesickness, stress, and trials you go through. To be able to see people coming closer to being with their families forever just puts the biggest smile on my face! Crazy that I have been out for 4 months... even though they have probably been the longest 4 months on my life.

 

Jesus Christ lives! He loves us! He helps us every day with those things we need most! Trust in Him!

Love,

Sister Shurtz

I Love You

A story I forgot to tell you about last week... I got my skirt caught in my bike. Yeah that's right, the thing I was scared would happen... happened. It was super embarrassing! Luckily we weren't on a busy road when it happened. Somehow it got stuck between the back tire and the brake. We honestly don't know how it happened and ended up putting a hole in my skirt in the process of trying to get it out. Yes I know... I have skills.

This week we were dropped by 3 of our investigators. On a good note we also were able to get in contact with about 3 less active members and now have a better idea of how to help them.

This week we also did some more service for Brother Graham. We helped build a deck (only about a foot off the ground) with power tools! Sister Draper and I both felt pretty accomplished afterwards. I will be sending pictures of that as soon as I can get them from Brother Graham. He also came to church again and loved it! I have hope that one day we can get Sister Graham to come too!

 

We did meet with one of our investigators this week and he kinda set a baptismal date! Brother Robinson has been coming to church (with his wife and children who are members) and reading the book of mormon  for a really long time now and he said that he will be baptized before Christmas! So it's a ways away... but at least he is committing to something! It is so exciting to think that he has almost gotten to the point where he can say he's finally ready to start his journey to coming closer to the Savior and work towards having an eternal family.

The Wrights has us over for dinner this week and they invited a couple of non member friends who are somewhat interested in learning more. They are super sweet people and have 4 little boys. Hopefully we will be setting up a time on a future preparation day to spend some time with them at their barn. Unfortunately we can't ride the horses... but we can still spend some time getting to know them and helping do some service for them and the horses.

I know that our Heavenly Father loves us and that He is watching out for us. He is waiting to bless us and all we need to do is follow his commandments and be the best we can be.

Have a great week family! I love you so much and thank you all for the letters this week and the pictures.

Love,
Sister Shurtz

Wickens, Pie, Bikes and the Priesthood

This week has been very interesting.

Friday we spent all day walking around a neighborhood nearby... that's right we did some tracting! The first house we knocked on had a bright red door that I thought looked kinda cute! When the man opened the door and we told him who we were he just laughed. We asked what he was laughing  at and he pointed on his storm door and said, "well I thought you would have recognized that!" It was a bright red star on the glass... the same color as the door... how were we supposed to see that?!?! Anyways we asked what it meant and he responded, "we're Wicken!" We said, okay well you have a nice day. Suddenly the cute blood-red door just looked creepy.

We did meet a great woman that day though who wants us to come back to visit her next week at the same time. She has some great questions and she loved the part of the Book of Mormon we shared with her (1 Nephi 8:36-38) because it is exactly how she feels about her 4 sons.

That night we had an appointment which we had a member come with us to... only she either wasn't home or didn't answer her door. So instead the member took us to get milkshakes and dropped us off at the church building where we helped to set up for a ward activity. The ward did an indexing challenge and the loosing auxiliary, which ended up being the youth, got pied in the face with whipped cream and then we went inside and ate real pies that people brought. It was a great activity!

 

Saturday we took out our bikes and had a fun adventure! We spent all day outside and knocking on doors and no one really wanted to listen to us... but it's ok because we still planted a lot of seeds and contacted some potentials from the area book. I was very saddle sore that day though, that's for sure. But we haven't been sore since, which is a great blessing because we both thought we were going to be in a lot of pain the next day.

Sunday was a day that I will always remember. Sister Draper (who a absolutely LOVE by the way!!!) and I had a dinner appointment at a member's home, the McKeons. Sister McKeon's brother is also in the ward and he was there as well because his wife is out of town. Basically this is one of the most fun and most spiritual families I have ever known! I love them so much! While we are talking Brother Crenshaw (the brother) looks at Sister Draper and I and asks if we want or need a blessing. We said yes that would be great! Brother Crenshaw and Brother McKeon then gave us some of the most powerful and specific blessings we have ever received. I was told that I am needed in Fuquay because of connections between people here and "my kindred dead". I basically feel like I'm going to be staying in Fuquay for a while because I know there is some important work here for me to do.

The gospel is true. The Priesthood is SO real. Our Heavenly Father knows us and exactly what we need. Remember to pray! He wants to hear from us and help us! I love you all so much.

 

Love,
Sister Shurtz

Third Transfer Already?

Hello dear family!

 

It is crazy to think that the summer is over and everyone is heading back to school. It is so weird that I'm not starting school today in Provo along with my friends. Would you call me crazy if I said I miss school? haha

 

This week has been great! It seems like it has been super long for some reason though. It feels like Sister Draper has been my companion forever. I love her so much! We get along great! She is fun and loving and a powerful teacher.

We have another set of sisters in the district now so we're not the only ones at district meetings. We went out to lunch together too after district meeting and it is so fun to have some girl time. And I had the BEST milkshake I have ever had. It was from Cookout. SO GOOD!!!! It was peanut butter fudge, Reece, and snickers. yeah... SO GOOD! haha

 

This week we didn't have anyone come to church, but we hope that will change next week. We just changed times (yes they change in September here) so we meet at 9 now.

This week we referred Daniel to the elders because we feel like it would be better for him to be taught by boys. We still keep in touch and see how he's doing, but we aren't actively teaching him.

 

Today we went over to the Grahams and helped with some leveling because he's going to be building a deck to go with the shed we have been helping him build. We were out there in the mud because it stormed this morning and then the sun came back out and it was nice and HOT while we were working. They are planning on coming to church and today we talked about the Book of Mormon with them and about how it relates to the Native Americans. He really liked that because he is really into history. Hopefully we sparked his interest enough to get him to read a little bit of it.

This next week we will be on bikes... YAY!!! Sister Draper and I are both looking forward to it a little bit though because it will help us to get more in shape that we feel like we are currently. Luckily our area isn't too large and we have some amazing ward members who are always willing to help us out any time they can. I truly love Fuquay!!!

I hope y'all have a great week! Do something to share the gospel this week! Go out with the missionaries! Post something on facebook or your blog that ties into the gospel! Invite a friend to an activity! (yes this goes for the little ones too) Just do something to plant that seed in people's hearts that will one day help them to want to learn more. A little thing truly goes a long way!

 

Love,
Sister Shurtz